Palm fronds greet Randall of Nazareth's new direction

Go Groove

November 15, 2007|By Len Righi Of The Morning Call

As part of the power trio Pearls and Brass, guitarist Randy Huth Jr. is the unruly engine who triggers the Nazareth stoner-metal band's trademark big-riff pileups that earn comparisons to Cream, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden and Queens of the Stone Age.

With Pearls and Brass on indefinite hiatus, however, Huth has set aside his electric guitar and assumed a new identity, Randall of Nazareth. Late last month he released a quietly intense, acoustic guitar-driven lo-fi blues-folk CD of the same name.

"It's really not all that different," says Huth, 27, from his South Philadelphia apartment. "Both Pearls and Brass records had a couple of acoustic songs on them. I like loud, heavy guitar, but I've always incorporated acoustic material into Pearls and Brass."

True enough. And in fact, on Pearls and Brass' 2006 disc, "Indian Tower," two of the stand-out tracks, "Away the Mirrors" and "I Learn the Hard Way," were acoustic.

So far, print reviewers have strewn palm fronds in "Randall of Nazareth's" path. Indie music magazine Forced Exposure called it "gritty, arid, timeless This is music that evokes squalor with elegance," while Canadian culture magazine Exclaim! tagged it "humid, soulful blues best played beside a crackling campfire and an old hound dog."

Online reviewers have been equally appreciative. "It's a spectral, inward-looking forage through old blues and folk forms that ends not in tribute but in weirdly personal, skewed and beautiful songs," observed the music mag Dusted. The snarky music Web site Pitchfork commented: "The songs bend the lessons of Leadbelly, Robert Johnson and John Fahey into melodies that are familiar and beckoning but, fittingly, always kind of distant."

Huth, who will showcase "Randall of Nazareth" tonight at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia, is typically modest about his album. "Most of it was recorded at 6 in the morning in my bedroom," he says. "I was probably half in the bag. No, all the way in the bag, loaded at 6 in the morning, recording on a digital eight-track in my house in Philadelphia with one mike, then adding a vocal track or two."

Huth is equally self-effacing discussing individual songs. "Climbing Trees," he says, "is relatively simple. It's about climbing a tree and jumping out of it over and over again all day." It also pointedly conveys the frustration of a troubled soul longing for change.

Asked about "It's Nice to Know," a dark song full of suspiciousness and distrust, Huth says, "I was kind of talking to myself. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I probably wasn't in the best place when I wrote a lot of these songs. ... But it's not about a wizard or a witch."

"Forever Left Turns," which ponders what could be a life-changing choice, was inspired by an incident at a bar where Huth worked. "Some crusty punk backpacker was shootin' dope in the bathroom and had passed out," says Huth, "and it was my job to get him out of there and throw him out."

Though Huth mostly plays acoustic guitar on "Randall," on "The Way" he uses a different instrument to create a hypnotic drone.

"It's some weird old hammered dulcimer I found at a flea market for about $25," he says. "The lyrics are from a Pearls and Brass song we never finished. I think it's about not sleeping a lot and partying excessively."

In recent months Huth has been playing bass in Lehigh Valley-bred noise-rock band Pissed Jeans, even though he doesn't own a bass. "I'm using one from the guy who is the singer," he explains.

"I'm mainly a guitar player, but I really like playing in Pissed Jeans. Still, I'm a much better guitar player than a bass player."

VHS or Beta formed in Louisville, Ky., in 1997 as a loud, noisy punk-rock band. But then things changed. "We were part of scene that grew very, very stagnant, and seemingly bitter," says guitarist-vocalist Craig Pfunder.

So VHS or Beta switched formats, some might say shockingly so, as Pfunder and his mates began using guitars, bass and drums to concoct an unusual house/funk/disco blend born of jam sessions, resulting in the celebrated 2002 debut EP, "Le Funk."

"It was pretty drastic to do that," says Pfunder, riding in a van en route from West Virginia to Washington, D.C., "trying to play this dance music when everyone else was playing punk. Usually it takes a significant amount of time to understand how people would come from point A to point C. But the most punk thing to do is change."

That appears to be VHS or Beta's credo. The follow-up to "Le Funk," 2004's "Night on Fire," attempted a disco-punk hybrid, while VHS or Beta's new CD, "Bring on the Comets," shifts the emphasis to new wave dance-rock.